The old man wheeled and faced a clock that hung on the wall opposite the door. Staring toward the dial, he became oblivious to Pedro's presence. Venomously, Isaac Coffran announced the moments that remained.
"Three minutes more," he sneered. "No! Two minutes. The crushing is about to commence. This period is always enjoyable to me. That last minute, when the wall closes over the few remaining feet. The victim is at his last moment of helplessness. This is a rare pleasure, Pedro. I hope you enjoy it as much as I."
He paused, listening, while he stared at the clock.
"Can I be wrong?" he asked. "Impossible! Yet the mechanism has stopped! I can't hear its thumping beats. Can you, Pedro? No. I can't be wrong. There is more than a minute to go! I test it every week, Pedro. It is timed exactly!"
* * *
There was no response from the door. Isaac Coffran did not turn. He still watched the clock.
"I wonder if it stopped," he muttered. "I must investigate. Perhaps the body was stretched toward the wall. That must be it. Young Duncan was half unconscious. He may have lain where the other dragged him. A lengthwise body would crush slowly. It might stop the wall — yet the mechanism should still go on, at that!"
The old man swung toward the table. He saw the buttons above it and a startled cry came from him.
There had been little yellow lights over the two buttons which he had last indicated — the button that released the steel curtain and the button that operated the moving wall. Both of these lights were out.
Some one had pressed the buttons!